The present invention relates to database management for computers, and more particularly to a database management system and a method of extending system functions suitable particularly for multi-media databases.
As disclosed in Section 4, Configuration and Internal Structure of Relational Database in a publication "Relational Database Management System", p. 88-89, November (1986): by Takayuki HIRAO, published by Kindaikagaku-sha, a conventional database management system manages databases by assigning data a particular attribute or standard data type (such as characters and numbers) so as to share the databases. It is also disclosed that data processing procedures such as data retrieval, updating, and calculation are provided in correspondence with standard data types such as characters and numbers.
According to the above-described prior art, a database management system is provided only with standard data types. Therefore, among data stored in a database, data having a data type different from the standard data types, such as a data type of multi-media data, cannot be managed. However, in such a database management system, even if data having a multi-media data type is assigned a different attribute and stored in a database, this multi-media data cannot be processed, although data having a standard data type can be processed, e.g., retrieved or updated.
Accordingly, a multi-media database in a conventional database management system is realized as a dedicated file to a user application program (UAP) which acts to recognize a data structure and process the data for the system.